Legislation offers plan to deal with natural disaster recovery

Wednesday

Apr 9, 2014 at 10:08 PM

Chris Kaergard Journal Star political reporter @ChrisKaergard

PEORIA — The next time a natural disaster strikes, local lawmakers don’t want area governments holding the bag if the feds don’t kick in relief funds, as happened after the Nov. 17 Tazewell County tornadoes.

A measure backed by the Peoria-area delegation — across party lines — that passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday would carve out a specific requirement that if the Federal Emergency Management Agency declines aid requests, the state Emergency Management Agency would step in with grants and loans to help with clean-up.

“We’re trying to use the experience of Nov. 17 to look ahead and see if we can’t give a little more comfort to communities,” the lead sponsor, state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, said.

Municipalities and other units of government would be able to apply for the funding. The communities of Washington, East Peoria, Pekin and others affected by November’s tornadoes would also be eligible, though the state already has pledged a multimillion-dollar aid package following FEMA’s denial of aid to local governments.

IEMA would be responsible for setting up rules, eligibility requirements and the ways the grants are administered, and state officials have been involved in crafting the legislation.

“This would be a template in place for when the feds don’t come through,” state Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap, said moments after the bill’s passage in the Senate.

He praised the bipartisan effort that’s gone into it, with House and Senate members from the region working together to come up with the plan. Area mayors from affected communities were in Springfield last week to talk about the measure. It’s modeled after similar provisions in 25 other states, LaHood said.

The basic framework of the bill is in place, but work is still ongoing to determine how to pay for it, Koehler said.

“There’s still work to do on the bill,” he said. “We passed it over to the House so that we can continue to negotiate on it.”

That’s a typical action in the Legislature when lawmakers are trying to hammer out agreement on complex legislation while still abiding by internal deadlines. Friday is the day that measures have to clear out of their chamber of origin in order to get discussion without a special waiving of the rules — something that helps limit, though not end, the crush of end-of-session bills considered.

House members have until May 31 to consider the legislation before legislators begin their summer break. Any changes would have to be approved by the Senate as well. The legislation is Senate Bill 231.

Chris Kaergard can be reached at 686-3135 or ckaergard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisKaergard